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"MINE ANCIENT FRIEND, 
DON JUAN.'' 

— Byron. 



AUTHOR'S EDITION. 

This is the Author's Edition, limited to Five 

Hundred Registered and Numbered 

Copies, of which this is 

iVb. .„.-.„ _ 








.* 




on 




uans 




ouquct 



By 



Lee f aircbttd 



< \ 




Bdwin C. IMU, )^cw Y 01 * 

MCMIII 



3 

FEB 11 1904 

CLASS (t XXc. No 

7 <* W- 3 

COPY 8 



-fs3f»l 



Copyrighted 1903 A o £ £ Jj fc> 

BY 



EDWIN C. HILL 



^4W rights reserved 



This "Bouquet" is dedicated 

to 

James K. Atkinson 

A FELLOW-STUDENT OF BOTANY 



HP HE AUTHOR makes grateful acknowledgments 
to the publishers of the New York Sun, Judge, 
Life, Types, The Chicago Tribune, The New York World 
and The New York Herald for permission to include in 
this volume a few of his verses which have appeared 
in the columns of their publications. 




PRELUDE. 

BUNCH of roses wild for you, 
Culled by mine own pricked 
fingers : 

Still damp are they with rain or dew 
And somewhat of their sweetness lingers. 

" Some are not wild? ' Ah, sweet-bought 
guilt — 

I beg a thousand pardons: 
They were my neighbors' who had built 

Low fences 'round their gardens. 



FICKLE FANCY. 

FICKLE Fancy, were it not for 

you 

My heart were constant and myself 
were true I 
But you so 'witch mine eyes that I must see 
A dozen blushing damsels, each to me 
The only girl I ever could have loved 
Had not the others the contrary proved. 




WERE I A MAN. 

ERE I a man I surely wouldn't do 
Such dreadful things as men oft 
do; I think 
I wouldn't linger for another drink — 
Not I — unless somebody asked me to. 

I would one woman love and only one — 
A moody, changeful one so she would seem 
A new fresh vision, not the same old dream : 
I might be sweet to others — just for fun! 

[2] 




TIPSY AUTUMN. 

HAD a chat with Autumn but to- 
day, 
Out in the vineyard 'tween two purple 
rows; 
Her hands were full of grapes and she could 

not 
Shake hands with me; her rosy-tinted arms 
Seemed stained with wine. I think she'd 

had a sip, 
She was in such a merry mood. 

Her tresses combed were by the winds. 

They looked 
As yellow as a golden blade of corn, 
With which the field had fought and richly 

won. 
Her dreamy eyes were just a hazy blue — 
Two soft dull reapers that had harvested 
The hazel azure of the skies. 

As red 

As apples were her cheeks, and her ripe lips 
Were as two bows of ruby drawn around 
Mirth's ledge of pearl. 

It was her busy day 
And she kept working while she talked: 

next week 
She said she would be shocking corn. 

[8J 



ART AND LIFE. 

HE artist cut her likeness into stone, 
The senseless figure creeping into 

form 
As though half conscious of its 
destiny. 
The sculptor wants the painter's bashful 

stuff 
To fool the apprehension with a lie. 

Yon heaps of snow upon the wintry plain 
Of Art's white bosom all too cold do seem 
With no warm kiss of sunrise on their tops. 
Those chalky lips so plead for Love's soft 

flame, 
Veiling with damask beauty her sweet 

mouth — 
Ledges of pearl in Love's red quarry laid. 
m 



There stands herself beside the chiseled lie! 
Her tresses, fit to crown an angel's head, 
Falling wind-blown in rings of sundown 

light, 
Do tremble at the touch of Evening's breath 
Alive to its caress; 

Against their golden splendor how like snow, 
The winter's wonder, seems her pure white 

throat 
Kindling, as with the rosy flush of dawn 
The milky east when daybreak reddens o'er 
And crystal dew-drops turn to beads of wine. 
And in the rosy heavens of her face 
Her eyes are shining like two stars fresh lit, 
Fanned brighter by the cooling breath of 

morn 
When Love's sun rose in Beauty's change- 
ful skies. 

[6] 




NOT ACCORDING TO HOYLE. 

UST trump or follow suit," said he; 
To this she said, and struck him 
mute, 
"When hearts are trumps I cannot see 

Why any one should follow suit." 
She lead a heart; his trump fell on, 

And thus 'til all their hearts were gone. 
And when the happy game was done 
They both concluded both had wonl 

[6] 




TO AUGUSTA. 

N one far corner of old Fancy's gar- 
den grew 
Augusta, child of wooing sun and 
sparkling dew; 
She had no mission in the world but to 

make sweet 
The idle hours of a lazy bard's retreat; 
Yet this same bard, while culling flowers 

one fine day, 
Did put her in the centre of a fresh bou- 
quet, 
m 




SAILING. 

AILING, sailing, sailing, 
Over the laughing sea; 
The sea that isn't so deep by half 
As the girl that sails with me. 



Sailing, sailing, sailing, 

Blow winds — the ocean stir 

And pile it in mountains if you will, 
For I'm all "at sea" with her. 

Sailing, sailing, sailing, 

How brief the summer seems! 
And when it is past it will come back 

A remembered sea of dreams. 

[8] 




PHOTOGRAPHS OF CUPID. 



i. 

OW Love's a bee and honey brings 
That's but to sweeten whom he 

stings ; 

Finds a sweet-heart in each flower, — 
Would he were drowned in April's shower! 



ii. 

Now Love's a bird; that's when he sings 
* ' My heart is true ' ' the while he wings 
Himself along his winding way 
Humming to each the self-same lay. 



in. 

Now Love's a charming hypocrite, 
Plays that he loves when he has quit; 
Still swears him true the while his eyes 
Swear his dear oaths are dearer lies. 

[9] 



IV. 

Now Love's a thief and I appeal 
To heartless maidens — won't he steal? 
But losing hearts is such sweet gain 
We beg the thief the thief remain. 

v. 

Now Love's a lion when he roars, 
How like the ocean on her shores, 
In declamation of his love 
Its force by thunder so to prove. 

VI. 

In a green tree now Love is hid 
Declaring him that Katie did; 
And knowing Katie very well 
I knew her ill the truth to tell. 

VII. 

Now Love goes braying and to grass — 
That's when he's proved himself an ass: 
Since Love sees naught while much he hears 
Methinks he should have bigger ears. 

[10] 



VIII. 



In many shapes is Cupid seen 
But ne'er so ripe as he is green; 
For when his head is white with snows, 
His heart it seems the younger grows. 



IX. 

And as a warrior it is said 

He uses gold in lieu of lead: 

So stands he well in Wisdom's eye 

Since more by gold than lead will die. 

x. 

So good a shot and yet so blind! 
Love's kindest when he's most unkind: 
Unlike the hunter in the hills 

The more he wounds the less he kills. 

[in 




TO A. H. 

AVE after wave of curving blue, 
White-topped and laughing with 
the rest, 

Broke at our feet all day, and 
threw 

Thin scarfs of foam high on the crest 

Of the gray beach which bended like 
A wave embanked and motionless 

Against the restless flow and strike 

Of breaking waves. Our eyes did bless 

The lake, a-rocking to and fro, 

So ploughed by mountain winds it seemed 
Each pilgrim furrow ridged with snow: 

We knew not if we waked or dreamed. 

A yacht in cradle motion stood 
Against the winds and slid away 

O'er rolling wastes unto a wood 

Etched on a calm and pictured bay. 

You will remember that short day — 
The sun ran swifter than the sea; 

Time for young Love would never stay — 
And what you, whispering, promised me? 

[12] 




A QUERY. 

ERE Love not blind, this query 
to the wise, 
Would lovers need to make so 
many eyes 
Which, being made, are used but once and 

then 
Put out that Love may make them o'er 
again? 



JEALOUSY. 

Alas, that man through jealousy should 

prove 
By gall and bitterness the sweets of love I 

[13] 




A SURPRISE. 

HEN I shall meet a gentleman, ' ' 
Said she, "who sees thro' deep 

blue eyes 
As deep as seemeth yonder skies 
I'll set my cap." 



I was a gentle man, I knew; 

Too gentle to be sought, perhaps, 

By maidens such as set their caps — 
She set her cap. 

Though I were blind yet she could see 
My shallow eyes were a deep blue 
And wore the skies no deeper hue — 
She set her cap. 

I liked her cap, and tried it on, 
She said it fit me to a T; 
I said I wished my wife could see — 
She snatched her cap! 




HER PHOTOGRAPH. 

S swift as the lightnings her glances; 
Libraries of love in her looks 
Yet fuller of pretty romances 
Than ever were printed in books. 



She talks with her eyes and tells stories 
That never were told by the tongue, — 

Sweet tales of the heart and their lore is 
Ne'er trilled in the songs that are sung. 

Her eyes are as blue as the sky is; 

Her words, they are music as sweet 
As iEolian harps, and her sigh is 

The language of Cupid complete. 

Her prettiest smiles break in laughter 
Through ledges of rose-embanked pearl, 

And break all the hearts that are after 
Her own in the dance and the whirl! 

[153 




FRIEND OR LOVER 

AN one be friend and lover, too, 
And, ceasing as a lover, yet 
Remain a friend sincere and true? 
This query to your heart and let 



Me learn if it, indeed, be so: 
I killed my lover once that was 

My friend and found, and wept to know, 
That friend dead in that lover's cause! 



KIND FATE. 

How very kind to woman Fate has been 
Giving her tears to drown her sorrows in! 

[16] 




MEN. 

OW good are men when they've 
been bad, 
And, needing scolding, how they 
scold ! 
And often when they are most sad 

Most cheerful they do seem, I'm told. 

It's hide and seek and seek and hide — 
We hunt each other by the sun; 

I've hunted you, you by my side, 

And found you not — the hunting done. 

C 17] 



LIKE A GARDEN. 

HY face is like a garden where now 

blow 

Fresh lilies, making it as white as 

snow; 

Then on the instant, as Love's mood to fit, 

Thy heart's blush-roses bloom and redden it. 




HATE. 

Alas, there's no revenge will satiate 
The anger of a true love turned to hate! 

[18] 




LUE EYES AND BROWN. 

HAT artful sophists were those eyes 
of blue, 
Filling with tears to make their 
lies seem true! 
How oft have stars shone out a limpid pool 
With brilliant seeming some shy deer to 
fool! 

To liquid eyes of brown from them I turned 
Wherein a stranger light more strangely 

burned ; 
Yet whether brown or whether blue, beware, 
For Love's unfairest traitor's the most fair! 




A DOZEN IN ONE. 

Y tastes are varied and my love 
must be 
At least a dozen women, say, to 
me 
And have a hundred pretty ways to charm 
The idle fancy and the Fancy not alarm: 
If in the one I find a dozen true 
Why, that one-dozen I'll be faithful to! 



JEALOUSY. 

When rose- faced, blue-eyed Love is jealous 

seen 
Her cheeks are lilied o'er, her eyes are 

green. 

[20] 



TO ALMA. 

HE flash of lightning threw its sud- 
den morn 
Into the room and instantly was 
born 
Dissension's devil; for, though not for harm, 
My wife's sweet friend was leaning on my 

arm 
And never dreaming, wide-awake, of ill: 
The storm passed by, yet it is stormy still! 

[21] 




TO ANGELINE. 

N painted wood and whispering glen 
Our hearts in love were given; 
And were we not as angels then 
In this old world's sweet heaven? 



And you were innocent, my dear, 
In those swift- footed hours; 

Alas, the loves of yesteryear! 
And, O, the faded flowers! 

[32 j 




TO HELEN. 

PON her lips a sad " good-bye," 
A sweet "farewell" in her fond eye: 
Ah, Time, if friendly you would 
prove 
Stop these mad worlds for waiting Love I 

Love never made a clock; and Hate 
Were much less hateful were he late; 
And yet a thousand years, sweet lass, 
May in one moment come to pass! 

[23] 




QUERIES. 

F one's poor heart be false what can 
one do 
But be to that false heart, alas, too 
true? 
And tell me this, my bleeding heart to 

soothe, 
Why fall we where the road is the most 
smooth? 



TOO OFTEN. 

How oft the runner learns, the prize already 
won, 

He has, alas, his liking for the prize out- 
run! 

[24] 




AS FLOWERS DO. 

Y ladies differ as the flowers do: 
This blushing one's a sweet red 

rose to me; 
And were its price a hundred 
thorns to be 
Why, I would cull it, fellow — wouldn't you? 
She might prefer me false to others true 
If being true is to be tame and fee 
With don't-care sameness dull fidelity 
When Love for changeful love would ever 
sue. 

I have a garden full of Flowers sweet 
With a low fence around it. Shall I show 
You through its blooming paths? Well, 

promise this: 
That you will not one single Flower greet 
Except yon homesick Maude, with eyes 

a-flow; 
But, if you like, you may throw Bess a 

kiss! 

[35J 




ANITA. 

ENEATH the snowy-starred magno- 
lia tree 
Anita, of the jet-black eyes and 
hair, 
Bidding me kill old Care with "I- don't-care" 
Stroked her loved mandolin how carelessly! 

'Twas eventide and young seemed this old 

world ; 
We watched Night slowly open her soft Eye 
Through which kind Heaven looks and sees 

rolled by 
A silver burnished Sphere through Heaven 

whirled. 

She thrummed her mandolin; and from its 

strings 
She picked a tale of love, nor dreamed we 

there 
Its trembling secret bore the tell-tale air 
To Don, her lover! Ah, the deadly stings 

Of Love and Jealousy ! A black Shade leapt 

Beside Anita: quick a flash of steel — 

I sank, I swooned! I felt my senses reel: — 

# «ai» -at- ijg- -M- -jif,. 

tt w it tt tt 

I woke and from his dead, not mine, I crept ! 

[26] 




A PROFANE SECRET SACREDLY 

KEPT. 

k \ONE knew him false yet many knew 
him true 
Still was he false to all of them he 
knew ; 
Since to each one by every star he swore 
She was the whole wide world to him, and 

more: 
These many met each other here and there 
But no one said she ever heard him swear! 



"SWEET WRETCHES." 

' " Sweet wretch ' ' she called me and because 
She called me that, why, that I was; 
And I have heard, that I repeat, 
Women love wretches, be they sweet. 

[27] 




MY FAITH-CURE DOCTOR. 

'VE taken every medicine ever yet 
was made 
And sun-baths I have taken that 
laid me in the shade; 
I've had the yellow fever till 1 was doubly 

blue 
And fallen all to pieces and altogether too. 

Oft down with the ague I have been and 

shaken up, 
And in my sober moments I've taken to 

the cup; 
I've had the chills and fever, till a "cake's" 

in my side, — 
I lived a year in Arkansaw when I ought 

to've died. 

[28] 



At last I've found a doctor who makes me 

love my ills; 
She doesn't give me strychnine nor any kind 

of pills — 
A little faith-cure doctor, and I believe in 

her, 
And when my wrist she fingers, O, how my 

pulses stir! 

She cures the typhoid fever with just a 

smile or two, 
And if my brow be burning, her eyes they 

fill with dew; 
And now I'll take what's going — what ever's 

to be had, 
For, sure, she will not see me unless I'm 

feeling bad. 

[29] 




MY GIRL OF TAN. 

ACK from the woods my Girl of 

Tan 
Where with the sun and stream 

she ran 
And won from them in gladsome race 
The prize of beauty in her face: 
And who would swap its yellow hue 
Of Autumn leaves and sunsets, too, 
For all the lily and the rose 
Of beauty that the druggist knows? 

[30] 



THE MAID OF MEXICO. 

O her all things unreal seem: 
Through her bright eyes her dark 

soul peeps 
And sees the world as in a dream; 
For with wide open eyes she sleeps. 



TO A DAISY. 

Dear little dew-eyed daisy, trembling so, 
Wherefore so sad and tearful — tell me 
true? 
Ah, your unspoken secret well I know 
For I've a sweetheart who's a "daisy," 
too. 

[31] 




THE FLIRT. 

UT yesterday I swore I would be 
true 
To half a dozen lassies and a few 
Grass widows who took oath they'd 
never seen 
So ripe a creature in a pasture green. 
And do you think I mean to keep my 

word? 
Of course, I could: for surely you have 

heard 
Of him who loved a dozen dears, carest, 
And, loving all alike, loved each the best. 

[32] 



JUNE. 

HE waters linger in the leaden shade; 
The lazy breezes scarcely fret the 

stream 
Or age it with the wrinkles of their 
speed; 
And not a crow will act as sentinel — 
The cool retreat is every hunter's game: 
Ah, it is June and they be fond of toil 
Who would make love to-day! 



ELOQUENCE. 

Were they but mine — those talking eyes, 
That utter such enchanting lies, 
Why, I would make the saint foreswear 
His love of truth my lies to hear. 

[83] 




WOMAN, AND WINE, AND SONG. 



WOMAN, and wine, and song — 
Ah, these are the three for me; 

They never were man's for long — 
Nor long will they ever be. 



The heart that is broken 's sweet 

And sweet is the grape when crushed; 

Come sing — the old songs repeat, — 
The lips, once sang them, are hushed! 

The winds of the North are cold, 
The hills of the South are green: 

The world it is ever old, 
The world it is e'er sixteen. 

O, woman, and wine, and song — 
Ah, these are the three for me; 

They never were man's for long 
Nor long will they ever be. 

[34] 



LOVE. 

OVE'S not a butterfly — Love is a 
bee; 
From blooming fields he comes to 
you and me: 
And who would take the honey that he 

brings 
Must take his brief sojourning and his stings! 




THE THREATENED RAIN. 

I kissed her, and two roses red 

O'er her white cheeks their crimson spread, 

As spreads the rosy light of dawn 

The snowy hills of winter on. 

And then I saw her soft blue eyes 
Begin to cloud as April skies; 
And so, to stop the threatened rain, 
1 kissed the trembling dear again. 

[35] 




IN THE WOODLAND STREAM. 



S of the whitest marble wrought 
With rosy wine 
All blushing seemed herself — fresh 
caught 
In curve and line. 



The lily blending with the rose 

In snowy fire 

Enveloped her; as kindled snows 
(Truth seems a liar) 

At dawn so did her body gleam: 

Glad Nature must 
Mixed heaven with this conscious Dream 

Fashioned of dust. 

Her bosom (Sculpture be undone — 

Such beauty kills!) 
Caught the red glory of the sun 

On its white hills. 

[3«] 



As golden mists through purple dell 

At sunset float 
So streamed her tresses as they fell 

'Round her white throat; — 

Into the sunshine of their light, 

Snowy and fair, 
The carved slopes of her shoulders white 

Ran melting there. 

The waters of the crystal stream 

Fuel became 
Kindling her flesh till it did seem 

Wrapt in soft flame. 

The violet waves in laughter broke 

And frenzied whirl 
Till, 'neath her flashing hand's light stroke f 

They dashed to pearl. 

"Aurora," say? Not so; and yet 

Her eyes of blue 
Were splendid as the east that let 

The morning through. 

[37] 




TO MAY. 

AY begs me put her pretty self in 
verse : 
Impossible; — and yet I undertake 
The pleasant task, twice pleasant 
if I make 
It lengthy; and I would not make it terse 
To make it better or to make it worse. 
I'd smash all grammar for her precious sake 
And the wise rhetorician's rules I'd break 
The marvels of her beauty to rehearse. 

'T would make a garden of my words did I 
But put the roses of her cheeks in them; 
Catching Love's sunrise from her flaming 

lips 
Would set a world afire! Blue as the sky 
Or dewy violets on the river's hem 
Are her soft eyes: — these be, love-lads, youi 

tips. 

[38] 




TO EDITH. 

ITH soft brown eyes you say such 
things to me 
As make me young again; 
Love's looking-glass are they: in 
them I see 
(With mingled joy and pain) 

Another such as you with eyes of brown, 

And, yes, I loved her, too; 
She broke my heart with just a careless 
frown, 

And so, sweet one, might you! 

[39] 




OF COURSE. 

ACH one of us she calls "my dear,* 
And you are nothing but a rowdy ; 
To me the only thing that's clear 
Is that her acting's rather cloudy. 



She loves us both in manner, Joe, 

And surely one more than the other; 

Now you may be her younger beau 
And I will be her older brother. 

We'll let her choose between us then, 

And when the time is ripe and mellow- 
Old comedy to act again — 

She'll likely choose some other fellow. 

[40] 




"NOT BY SO MANY HEARTS." 

JWEET budding girls are more than 
blushing flowers — 
In sunshine smiling, weeping in the 
showers ; 
And I, adventurer in realms of bliss, 
Have found in one true love more love 

there is 
Than the inconstant fickle man shall find 
Though each new day himself be newly- 
blind 
And leading where he should himself be led 
Not by so many hearts, but by one head. 

[413 




THAT ESSENTIAL CALLED 
MONEY. 

E'S a handsome young man of the 
times ; 
Just a little less serious than 
funny; 
He is clever in spinning light rhymes 
But he lacks that essential called money. 

He is shrewd and a thinker, and so 
In affairs of the heart he's a master; 

But for me he's a trifle too slow — 
To arrive, he must travel some faster. 

He reminds me of blossoms full-blown 
And of bees on the wing for some honey; 

But a heaven of charms one may own 
And yet lack that essential called money. 




VERY NEAR AND VERY DEAR. 

HE vowed that she would be his 
bride, 
And stood beside him — close be- 
side; 
In earnestness, half playfully, 
Said he, "You're very near to me." 

She was a pretty witty miss, 
As you may see by reading this: 
"I love the styles, wherefore I fear," 
Said she, "You'll find me very dear. 19 

[43] 




IS MARRIAGE A FAILURE? 

S marriage a failure ? I fancy if so 
It beats a success any bachelors 
know; 



What 'tis to be married unknown is to 

me, — 
I have a good notion to try it and see. 

My sweetheart's so sanguine she ventures 

the guess 
Our failing together would be a success. 

I've nothing to lose; and I blush as I own 
That I am a failure when taken alone. 

[44] 



SWEET CONTRARINESS. 

HE swore she loved me not, yet 

loved me more 

With every pretty oath the lassie 

swore ; 

And Cupid's sweet contrariness to show 

She drew me nearer as she bade me go! 
t«] 




TO KATHARINE. 

STAND at thy door 
And ask, and nothing more, 
(Longing to remain in thy Beauty's 
heaven) 
Just to be sent away forgiven! 

[46] 





THE MOODY SEA. 

LOVE yon moody woman of a sea 
Dragging her blue, white -ruffled 

skirts along 
The yellow strands e'er babbling of 
her song: 
What wonder in the tale she tells to me 
Of jolly mariners when I am glad; 
Of watching, weeping women when I'm sad! 

[47] 



DOUBTS. 

HE appetite of Theft is ever keen 
And stolen fruit seems best to eat; 
And yet I doubt, and I a thief 
have been, 
If stealing ever made the apple sweet. 

[48] 




CUPID PARDONED. 

UPID, were you, by seeing, yet more 
wise, 
You would not, shutting many 
maidens' eyes, 
So open them that they should blindly 

choose 
And find the very fellows they would lose! 





THE GLAD MORN. 

LL night the sea had told her tale 
of woe — 
How like a sobbing woman full of 
grief 
As if in telling it there were relief. 
The fickle love-sick moon that wooed her so 
Goes down, and frosty morn begins to blow 
Out night's dim-burning lamps; and every 

leaf 
Is trembling where the wind steals like a 

thief 
A-through the startled trees that whisper 
low. 

Now all the land seems weeping with the 

sea; 
The grass is bending 'neath its weight of 

tears 
And damp and heavy hangs the drooping 

vine. 

^» %fr *^» #x* *x* 

*f* #j» #y» »y* ^^ 

The east is kindled with the day to be; 
The landscape glittering with gems appears — 
And sunrise turns the vast gray sea to wine. 

[60] 




THE PYRAMIDS. 

LENGTHY quarrel with the stress 

of Time 
Conjecture and a guess their secret 

still- 
Strange quarried monuments to human skill; 
Of sleeping Centuries what dreams sublime, 
The shadow and the substance of this rhyme ! 
What chiseled eloquence are these to kill 
The pride of oratory, and to fill 
The world with wonder of its vanished prime ! 

By yon same moon they strolled in Baby- 
lon 

And there the maiden sighed her lover 
"yes" 

And killed her answer by the self-same sigh, 
Smiling upon its death I By yon same sun 
The Pyramids were built that now confess 
Our boasted pomp of greatness but a — lie! 

[51] 



THE WAIL OF THE FLIRT. 

ECAUSE I was a flirt and not 
Unwilling, maybe, to be shot 
(Just think of it) the fact is 
That Cupid, the blind god of love, 

His marksmanship to test and prove, 

Used me for target practice 1 

[62] 




ITALY IN AMERICA. 

TIME, how you do jest with man! 
Ay, Csesar's wife, young Caesar in 

her arms, 
I saw but yesterday a-begging bread ; 
And Caesar combing the deep-littered beach 
Along the weeping seal 
And poor, poor Brutus, dumb as any clod, 
Who, in the transmigrating shift of years 
Has swapped the dripping dagger for the 

spade, 
Shov'ling the stuff of which himself is 

wrought 
Digging for empire in the dustl 

And Cleopatra, jeweled with cut glass, 
Did dance the couchee-couchee for a fee 
While Antony, mark you, passed 'round the 

hat. 
O, Rome, O, Egypt, falling still I 

[63] 



EXPERIENCE. 




HO would forego the sweetness of 
the rose 
To 'scape the painful pricking of 
the thorn 
Would forfeit knowledge that the whole 

world knows 
Yet cannot teach to any mortal born. 

[54] 



LOVE-BLINDNESS. 

LOVE, and only fancy that I see: 
If this be blindness blind let me re- 
main 

And, since I'm single, single let 
me be 
For if I wed I fear I'll see again 1 

[65] 





A SEATTLE BELLE. 

HERE'S a belle in Seattle you 
know — 
If you don't, you are slightly ac- 
quainted ; 
With the bloom of the roses aglow 

Are her cheeks — you would think they 
were painted. 

She walks with a grace a la Greek — 
To the right and the left she oft glances; 

And her eye with a look it can speak 
Such a speech as an orator fancies. 

I will tell you her name if you like — 
You would meet her? mayhap we'll ar- 
range it: 
Do you smoke and a match can you strike? 
But her name — I am sure she would 
change it 1 




DON JUAN'S SONG. 

S young as the age to be, 

As old as the world am I; 
The hardest heart I ever broke 
I broke it with a — sigh. 



It seems but as yesterday 

(I've driven a lot of stakes) 
I met Eve's niece, and she loved me 

Because I hated snakes! 

I danced with the prettiest girl — 

A narrative sweet to tell — 
In Babylon the night before 

That reeling city fell. 

The Queen of the palace threw 

A kiss for a king to me: 
They threw me out and I'm glad they did 

Or there I still should be. 



In Rome, when in debt, I went 

And listed to fight the foe; 
My name was Antony and — well 

Why tell you that you know? 

As Paris I was in Troy — 

It isn't all Greek to you? 
And blushing Helen trembled so 

The city trembled, too! 

"Stop thief !" was the cry in Greece 
In palace, and hall, and mart: 

And two brave nations broke their heads 
O'er Helen's broken heart. 

[68] 



All clad as a lad with me 

She climbed on the wall and saw 
Contending waves of steel break on 

Steel waves — the world in awe! 

Helen, through a misty veil, 

Saw friends and their foes die hard; 
And I, what could I do, alas, 

But be her body-guard? 

In England I lived and wrote 
A tale of myself, Don Juan; 

I often die yet I shall live 
Long as the world goes on. 

[69] 



A LITTLE MISUNDERSTANDING, 



Harold; 




H, lips that are not stained, yet 
red 
As any cherry in the sun, 
Should be to other lips, 'tis 
said; 
Nor was it said in fun. 



Fannie: 



I do not understand you, sir, 

Your pretty speech is riddled so; 

And yet it makes my pulses stir 
Its meaning not to know. 



Harold: 

For sixteen summers you have seen 
The mated swallows come and go 

And, wandering through the meadows 
green, 
The silver waters flow. 

[«0] 



Beneath the shadow of yon grove 

Warm with the sun, cool with the 
dew, 

My hands would build a nest for love 
Were you a swallow, too. 



Fannie: 



"Were I a swallow ?" What a thought! 

All time were then a holiday; 
Were I a swallow and so sought 

Why, I would fly away. 

That is a pretty grove; and there 
The robins nest I oft have seen: 

Were I a robin, I declare, 
I might see what you mean! 

[61] 




TO CAROLYN. 

LIND Archer, here, give me that 
oft-bent bow 
And but one arrow; for I shall not 
miss 
So fine and fresh a target as is this, 
The central figure in all Beauty's Show: 
If she be not, then white was never snow 
Nor red the blushing rose the sun did kiss, 
Found weeping for the morn! Nor ever 

bliss, 
Till some bold hunter wounds her, will she 
know. 

Say, Cupid, here, this darned old bow is 

cracked ; 
This arrow — look — crow- feathers stuck in it I 
Why, I've a mind to break them o'er your 

head: 
No wonder yonder wounded trees are packed 
With wasted ammunition! Not a hit 
Could lover make with this, and e'er be 

wed. 

[62] 




ONCE FALSE OR TWICE TRUE? 

OW oft man's honor and man's fancy 
war 
In Love's sweet battle woman's 
peace to mar! 
And never yet, methinks, was man so true 
To one sweetheart as not to fancy two: 
For Beauty her dear self, you know, is twins 
In whose conspiracy how oft begins 
Love's fondest trouble, troubling him to 

prove 
Himself twice true since he, perforce, must 

love 
The very likeness of his heart's Red Rose 
Since in his Fancy's garden it, too, blows! 

[63] 




IN SOCIETY. 

AM reformed and in society; 

Have but three maidens on the 
string and more 
I fear would break it; quite enough 
for me 
Are these — with the grass widows I adore. 

They're tainted with the age in which we 
live, 
And all in looks are very like their 
mothers ; 
And one's a Scientist and she will give 
Me "absent treatment" while I'm with 
the others. 

[64] 



As rosy as a garden in mid June 

Is Dora, ever blooming; like a deer 

A little shy is she if I come soon: 
If late I be she fades with fear 

That I'm detained by some one fairer still 
To eyes that cater to a moody fancy; 

But if I'm fickle in my wayward will 
My heart is ever true, at least, to Nancy. 

'Twas midnight when I first beheld her 
face, — 
Love's break-o'-day flashed morning in 
her features; 
In our wed eyes our hearts leapt to embrace 
And thence but one were we two happy 
creatures. 

[65] 




STRANGE. 

UNG with the gold-fringed curtains 
of the sea 
I loved the cloudy morn of yes- 
terday ; 
Yet no less beautiful and dear to me 
To-day's red dawn, the clouds all blown 
away. 

Yet wonder you that I love frowning Maude 
Her moody heart upon her face at play 

The very while (and hence you call me 
fraud) 
I also love the ever smiling May. 

[66] 



OR HAS IT SEEMED BUT SO? 

OW is it true or has it seemed but 
so 
That fenced-in pastures do the 
greener grow? 
Ay, much intrinsic value seem to give 
These fences of the world in which we live. 




This world's a Mormon; yet is it a sin 
To be a Mormon and claim all your kin? 

[67] 



TO AUDIS. 

LIND not Love, O, Cupid: let me 
be 
The choice of all the Flowers he 
may see 
Before he chooses me; then shall he find 
My beauty keeping him from going blind. 




LOVE'S EYES. 

False things I swear and, swearing, make 

them true 
For lovers ' oaths are eyes blind Love sees 

through. 

[68] 



TO BONNIE. 

BONNIE, had you never known 

The broken bubble, Promise, blown 

By such false lips, I'm sure that 

you 
Might sweeter been if not more true ! 

[69] 




WISDOM'S SOURCE. 

HE learned Professor knows full well 
the seed 
Of Wisdom's in the venture and 
the deed: 
Yet true it is, in this big world of lies, 
We would forget the things that make us 
wise. 

[70] 




LOVE LOVES MOST WHAT LOVE'S 

NOT SEEN. 



LASHING eloquence, the eye 
Swift as lightning from the sky ! 
Oft a glance the heart has won 
Ere itself might say " 'tis done." 



Than the glance, ay, far more dear 
Is the sigh to Love's fond ear; 
And Good- looks may lose a bit 
'Gainst Cyrano's flash of wit. 

Love has never yet been blind 

To the jewels of the mind: 

Wonder not then, rival keen, 

Love loves most what love's not seen! 

[71] 




TO GENE. 

HEARD you my harp, the sad winds 

a-voicing, 
Repeat the farewell I whispered to 
Gene; 
'Twas Autumn time then, the leaves were 
a-falling, 
A gray haze of sadness stretched o'er the 
scene. 

Her heart it was mine, its secrets I cher- 
ished, 
But Fate, — O, the world, how kind, and 
how blind! — 
But Fate bade us part: what moments we 
lingered, 
How bitter to leave such sweetness be- 
hind! 

[72] 



I never had known her had I not scolded 
In public, my Sweet, with just a mild 
frown ; 

And, lo, in a moment, tears were a-flowing 
Down roseate cheeks mine anger to drown 1 

Again is the Spring come back with its blos- 
soms, 
Again is the robin building her nest; 
The happy world through I wander all 
lonely — 
O, where is the heart once beat in my 
breast ? 

[73] 



PROFUSELY PROFANE. 

SWORE I loved you; ay, and truly 

swore 
As I had sworn a dozen times be- 
fore 
To other smiling lassies whom I knew 
Wanted the false to make them prize the 
true. 




QUITE. 

Ah, how profane is ranting Love; and loath 
Is he to break a heart as take an oath! 

[74] 




TO NAN. 

HE willow was a splash of green 

Against the gray and leafless wood ; 
The little emerald blades were seen 
Flashed 'long the paths of solitude. 



You trembled as the willow tree 
And with Love's art of bashfulness 

Revealed your hidden heart to me: 
The lips deny, the eyes confess. 

I walked along that way this morn; 

The flowers with their eyes of dew 
Seemed weeping in a world forlorn 

And keeping watch, my love, for you! 

[75] 



A TIP. 

O blind her with the light of love 
By which the moon a sun shall 
U^iS? prove 

And make what seemeth not, to 
seem 
And conscious thought itself a dream. 

In poppy juice the arrow dip 
(Pardon, blind Archer, this one tip) 
And wound her so that she may be 
E'er dreaming wide awake of me. 

[76] 




THE MAIDENS WAIL. 

H, there is no happiness, however 
sweet, 
Compares with this my bleeding 
heart's strange sorrow; 
Each day I'd lay this heart low at his feet 
Did he but spurn it ever on the morrow! 

E'er as Love bids a lover must obey 

Though iron bars and locks-and-keys say 
"never;" 

Ay, if the rebel heart the mad Will slay 
Dead is the soul of Happiness forever! 

[77] 




SOME HONOR LEFT. 

OW light a stroke it takes to crack 
The heart that never has been 
broken ! 

But, O, the wretch that tries, alack, 
To blind a girl with Love's false token! 

But when I find a heart that's still 
On duty, though gone all to pieces, 

I like to smash it with a will 

And so collect some others' leases. 

I have some sense of honor left 

Though very little, sir, to spare you; 

Yet for sweet Innocence bereft 

To Pity's tournament I dare you! 

I war but with the Amazon 

Nor tipped with gold e'er speed mine 
arrows ; 
But why this road of words go on 

Or hunt where we may find but sparrows? 

[78) 




THANKS TO CUPID. 

H, did Cupid not like 
To blind us in youth we never 

should strike 
Those matches which light the lamp 
of our bliss 
And kindle the kindling wood of a kiss 
To flames on the hearth of our hearts. 

Ay, and having been blind 
And seen by the light of only the mind 
I know by the fancy Fancy alone 
Has shown us the world the world has not 

known — 
A heavenly Sphere if we love. 

[79] 




LOST AND WON. 

HEY met each other at the dance 
And loved each other at a glance, 
And played for each a game of 
chance. 



None knew the gambling had begun, 

That hearts were trumps, or what were done 

Ere each of them had lost and won. 

[80] 



BUT THAT I LOVE. 

RATHER, sweetheart, you, 
Though false you be 
Even to me, 
Than any other true: 

No, not myself to prove 

A fool — but that I love! 

[81] 





HAD I MY LADY'S EYES. 



AD I my lady's eyes, 

That are a cloudy brown, 
I'd kill young Love with sighs 
And weeping, Sorrow, drown! 



Had I my lady's eyes, 
That are a misty blue, — 

For I have ladies two — 
I'd weep that I am sad 

Till weeping made me gladl 

[82] 




ADELE. 

VELVET Rose— the Syrian lass to 

me 
Of some far Dawn — Aurora's bright- 
eyed child 
Bequeathed unto the world when young Day 

smiled 
And all the mountains laughed with light to 

see 
The bon-flre of the East. A Christian, she 
Sought shelter 'neath this flag where Time 

has whiled 
The time away and, ay, to put it mild, 
Where Fate did whittle long at things to be. 

Is she a Spark of that old Flame that set 
All Rome afire while Antony did «stalk 
O'er half the world, like Hamlet, for a stage? 
What mystic sunshine lights the midnight 

jet 
Of her deep eyes? Ah, yes, methinks they 

talk 
Of ancient lore conned on no written page. 

[83] 




IN JAPAN. 

OVE is a liberal and knows 
No creed or dogma to propose; 
Ay, all around the world the flame 
Of Love's sweet fuel is the same. 



In May on Cherry Avenue 
I met a lass of dusky hue 
Who did so fix her eyes on me 
Through them her heart mine own could 
see. 

" Or whether Christian maid you be 
You are too good," said I, "for me:" 
"If I'm too good I might, I ween/* 
Said she, "be just a little mean." 

[84] 



'TIS OFTEN SO. 



THE MAID. 




ITH two hearts beating in your 
breast 
And none in mine, 
Ah, know you not my sad un- 
rest — 
How I repine! 



Bring back my broken heart to me, 

False lover fair; 
And mended it shall never be 

True Love to dare! 

THE MAN. 

Ah, chide me not sweet maiden true 

No heart had I 
To give in fair exchange to you 

As sigh for sigh: 

For truth to tell — count not the cost- 
In Cupid's mart 

Ere I met you, alas, I'd lost 
And found a — heart! 

[85] 




* 



AM I TO BLAME? 

N being wild am I to blame 

Since women so dislike the tame, 
And love to tame the wild so much 
They search the range and ranch for 
such? 



And not a saint the world has seen 
But would the keen were yet more keen; 
And even they would, as a rule, 
Prefer the villain to the fool. 

[86] 




FAREWELL. 

HE vowed again and o'er, and o'er, 
That she would see me nevermore; 
And then she lingered long with 
me 
That " nevermore" might never be! 

As cruel Fate has often planned 

The while we stood there hand in hand, 

Love's oldest story but re-told, 

The whole wide world between us rolled. 

We saw with purple sundown bloom 
The sward, and fade into the gloom, 
And silent stood and wondered why 
The night winds in the branches sigh! 

And yet is this not God's own world 
Safe through the star-strewn heavens whirled? 
Then why to mortals has been given 
Such sorrow in the midst of Heaven? 

[87] 




THE MEXICAN. 

E seems to be awake yet only 
seems, — 
His acts are shallow though his 
moods be deep; 
As Nature's strange somnambulist he dreams 
By day; by night, he slumbers twice 
asleep. 

In punctuation he is just a dash — 

There's no full stop to him, once let him 
go; 
Impulsive, upon holidays, and rash — 

Will fight mad bulls, loves women, wine, 
and — so. 

[88) 



THE FALSEST. 

HE falsest girl he ever knew 
To her Don Juan was always true; 
No matter what her scheme or 
plot 
He knew just where to find her — not! 

The truest, dupes of circumstances, 
Are sometimes led by wayward fancies; 
And oft the truest, true alas 'tis, 
Do falsest prove the falsest lassies. 

[89] 




LOVE A DIPLOMAT. 

OW oft, I wot, 

The bold blind Archer's shot 
Has cooled the cannon waxing 
hot. 



And often Love, 
His pleasure not his strength to prove, 
Has made the eagle woo the dove. 

Ay, as by chance, 
Oft blue eyes with the softest glance 
Do take the edge off the sharp lance. 

[90] 




"FOREVER AND EVER, YET 
NEVER, YOURS.' ' A. S. 

HE pledged me thus, and on the 
written page 
(And ever it has been from age to 
age) 
Her eyes bore witness that her hand wrote 

true: 
The eyes are blinded by the lips' adieu. 

But worry not, poor heart of mine; perhaps 
Of the Hereafter we've not all the maps; 
Who knows but Heaven holds some world- 
like Sphere 
For lovers who but loved in sorrow here? 

Ay, Fate and Circumstance somehow con- 
trive 
To keep the very thing they kill, alive! 
And why should pilgrim lovers day by day 
Meet but to pass each other on the way? 

[911 



TO SYLVIA. 

HE sea that plundered heaven's 
blue 

Robbed the June skies, my love, 
for you; 
And you of foam and flowers wrought, 
Are but some Angel's world-dream thought: 
And thus it is our life but seems 
To Fancy's Self a thing of dreams. 

[92] 



TO CHARLOTTE. 

HE splendid rhet'ric of thy love-lit 
eye 

Moves my steeled heart with such 
sweet eloquence 
Mine every breath is an "I-love-you" sigh, 
Each moment a whole year of dread sus- 
pense ! 

Thy lips of roses wrought and fashioned so — 
They are as two dumb orators who look 
The parts they need not speak; and sweetly 
show 
Thy heart's strange dramas in thy Face's 
book. 

What weapons are thine own! A thousand 
years 
In foam, and flower, and sun, and dew, 
and star 
Hath Nature nourished you in smiles and 
tears 
That Earth might know what Heaven's 
wonders are! 

[93] 




CUPID'S LOOKING-GLASS. 

ASHION," said I, "why weave 
away 
To make these lads and lassies 
gay,— 
For know you not that love is blind 
And Beauty helps him nought to find?" 

Then Fashion smiled and said to me, 
"Love's not so blind but he can see; 
Or wherefore should it come to pass 
That I am Cupid's looking-glass?" 




TO VALERIE. 

S evening shadows deepened and the 
glow 

Of sunset slowly faded from the 
skies 
There beamed upon me, how like stars, two 

eyes 
From rosy heavens of her face and, lo, 
Valerie! In the unseen ebb and flow 
Of Friendship's tides the pearls of sweet 

surprise 
Are strewn oft at our feet; and sweet and 

wise 
Is this old sea of things we little know. 

We knew each other as a chance — a guess : 

I was a mood, a bit of romance she; 

The budded tree seemed pouting, so she 

said, 
And made some blooming observations, yes, 
About the flowers and the Don Juan bee 
That o'er each blossom lost its heart and 

head! 

[95] 




TO GRACE. 

OVE'S Amazon was she — a warrior 
fair 
Who charged the citadel of my 
brave heart 
With the whole army of her charms. 

It stood 
A thousand thrilling shocks of pleasure ere 
The stout defenders of my bachelor 
Hesolves surrendered. 

Now that I am her prisoner 
I wonder any man in this wide world 
Longs to be free! 

[95] 




TO ELEANOR. 

^LENDER and graceful like the gold- 
enrod 
(Which if the gentle breezes kiss 
will nod 
A "thank you") was she in the wood to 

see: 
I never said she nodded once to me. 

The world seemed beautiful and young again, 
E'en this old bruised and battered world of 

men, 
Because I loved her in the whispering grove 
Whose leaves of gold made up our book of 

love. 

[97] 




TO N. C. 

HE maple grove, white in the winds, 
now seems 
As I beheld it in mine after- 
dreams, 
A silver cloud uprolled against the blue 
Of Summer's sky (seems it not so to you?) 

Remember how the golden shafts of sun 
Were through the somber evening shadows 

run: 
The leaves were gemmed with jewels of a 

shower — 
What if we were but lovers for an hour? 

Time shuts a thousand gates against us day 
By day and, like the thief, then steals away; 
But Time can never steal from me the bliss 
And sweet remembrance of one stolen kiss ! 

[98] 




OR FALSE OR TRUE. 

HAT splendid orators of blue — 
How words their eloquence would 
mar! 

Soft eyes a light is shining through 
As never shone from sun or star. 



Tell they the truth or do they lie? 

Or care those speakers what they say? 
Or be they sophists that but try 

The false Athenian's artful sway? 

Come tell me, lips, now, if you dare, 
False be those eyes, and yet, forsooth, 

If they do lie, I would, I swear, 
They never, never told the truth. 

[99] 

L §f & •" 




TO RUTH. 

RED rose peeping from its hood 
of green 
Deep in the garden of the village 
grew 
Looking upon the world with eyes of dew 
Whose liquid pearls did turn to wine when 

seen 
By the glad Eye of Morn which gives the 

mean 
A wonder not its own. Soft stealing through 
This garden, the caressing breezes blew — 
Thieves that cared not how sharp the thorns, 
I ween. 

So blushes Innocence when first 'tis kist 
As blushed this op'ning bud upon the 

world — 
The petaled sunrise of some other morn: 
That I knew not the gardener I wished 
(Ah, golden locks are leaden once they're 

curled) 
Since I had chanced the pricking of its 

thorn ! 

[100] 



TO HELEN. 

HE Fire-fly's flitting lamp now shines 
By it I pen these love-lorn lines : 
To-night there rolls a restless sea 
Between my love — and his — and me. 

Ay, she is his by law and fate, — 
Too early mine and his too late: 
Yet did he know, what were his rest, 
My heart is beating in her breast? 

[101] 




AT THE JOURNEYS END. 



HITS ends this little book of idle 
verse — 
Had it been better you had liked 
it worse. 



I've played my part; and sometimes in the 
game 

Chipped in because the play seemed some- 
what tame; 

And oft when hearts were trumps I have 
refused, 

Forsooth, to draw for fear I wouldn't lose; 

And in the face of what Good Luck had 
planned 

(Now bluffer blush!) laid down the winning 
hand. 

I'm of the very earth kind Heaven knows — 
Grew as the tree, bloomed as the flower 

blows : 
Yet none can say this Plant in bud or leaf 
By promise or by wine e'er played the thief. 

[102] 



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